Religious Identity & Affiliation

Most people in all six South and Southeast Asian countries surveyed say they believe in God or unseen beings.

In Thailand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, more than 90% of Buddhists see strong links between their religion and country. In the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Indonesia, nearly all Muslims say being Muslim is important to being truly part of their nation.

Based on formal religious identity, China is the least religious country in the world - with just 10% of Chinese adults self-identifying with a religion.

Only one-in-ten Chinese adults formally identify with a religion, but surveys indicate that religion plays a much bigger role in China when the definition is widened to include questions on spirituality, customs and traditional beliefs.

Most parents pass along religious and political affiliations, and they do so at similarly high rates, according to a new analysis of several surveys.

About a third of U.S. parents with children under 18 say it’s extremely or very important to them that their kids share their religious beliefs.

Religiously unaffiliated people were harassed by governments, private groups or both in 27 countries in 2020.

Most U.S. adults – including a solid majority of Christians and large numbers of people who identify with other religious traditions – consider the Earth sacred and believe God gave humans a duty to care for it. But highly religious Americans are far less likely than other U.S. adults to express concern about warming temperatures around the globe.

Whether the U.S. will continue to have a Christian majority in 2070 will depend on many factors, including religious “switching.”

Since the 1990s, large numbers of Americans have left Christianity to join the growing ranks of U.S. adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” If recent trends in religious switching continue, Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades.